I haven't written a "cultural" post in a long time - everything seems normal to me, so I have to remind myself of what might be of interest to readers who are wondering what missionary life is like in Uganda. But our recent trip to Kampala is probably interesting to you...
We had to go to Kampala to renew Ana's passport - yes, my cutie is 5 years old! 5 years ago we took her to Kenya so her passport still had a baby photo in it. So a 7 hour drive to renew her passport... Unfortunately, Micah's birth certificate (a twenty step process) is still in progress so we weren't going to be able to do his registration of birth abroad and passport application, which would mean that both parents and Micah would have to go again to the embassy. 'sigh'
We left Gulu before dawn and carefully picked our way over the road in the dawn light. The road close to Gulu is really in terrible condition - down to one corroded lane that is almost more potholes than road. Pedestrians, motorcycles, bikes, animals... cars, buses, trucks from the other direction do not yield which means that periodically the driver has to throw the car off the side of the pavement and drive half on half off the road and hope that the drop-off isn't too steep.
There's a new "diner" toward the half-way point on the trip. We decided to finally stop at it this time - Josh and 3 kids got expensive sodas while I took care of Gracie and baby in the van. This restaurant has "mzungu toilets!" (not latrines)
We got to Kampala, met up with our country director to give him some toys for a gospel outreach that they were doing in a poor neighborhood that very hour, gave him a medical "exam" and advice in a mall food court, ate Chinese food, got passport photos done, shopped in the super market, and moved on to our lodging - a lovely guesthouse that treats us to very nicely (a little plug for Adonai House!). For dinner, I did what is now becoming our Kampala tradition for a few meals of our stay: cold cuts and cheese and bread and Blue Band (margarine)! We can't really get cold cuts (even low quality ones) and especially good cheese (even low quality good cheese) so we've come to really enjoy our Kampala sandwiches!
On Sunday, we headed to church with our directors - we enjoy having a "church home" when we're visiting Kampala - getting to know people a bit. Then to lunch - we opted for another mall with a food court and adjacent "indoor playground" (think Chikfila or Mcdonald's play areas). Our kids LOVE this indoor playground and were THRILLED while we were happy to let the kids play so we could have adult conversation with our directors, the Watters, and our friend, Anna. We ordered Indian food for us and Gracie and fried chicken and chips (fries) for the kids. The kids LOVE meat of any sort and we always try to eat lots of meat when we're in Kampala to make up for a lack of meat in our diet the rest of the time.
To bed early to start our Monday early. We rose at 5am to get us ready to leave by 7am - our directors came to the guesthouse to keep Moses, Gracie, and Noah for us and we were off to the USA embassy, minus all cellphones, electronics, etc for easy entry. First appointment of the day and it went smoothly AND the lady accepted Micah's paperwork even though we still have one document to gather. PRAISE GOD! That part of the day went very American... then back out of the embassy, back onto Ugandan soil...
We got a treat for Ana at French cafe (and coffee for us) and then gathered the other kids and headed to the Indian embassy. But by this time, there was an incredibly long line so the kids and I waited in the car for 3-4 hours for Josh to emerge. I fed the kids snacks, water, and the infamous coldcuts and cheese while we waited. His application was accepted but he still needs to produce one more document.
Then, to the doctor's office... and that's a process. Wait... explain why we're there... wait... explain why we're there... wait... see the nurse, explain why we're there... wait... figure out what vaccines we all need... go pay... return with the receipts... wait... tell Moses that it'll hurt but not much more than an ant biting... "what's an ant, Mama?"... okay, that analogy didn't work, I'm not prepared to explain what an ant is right now... FINALLY get the shots (the nurse was fantastic, btw!)... get Josh to bring Gracie up the hill so the two of them can get shots...
Now it's 3:30pm... much too late to return to Gulu so we found a room at Adonai House again. We stopped at our (now) favorite pizza place (Caffe Roma) that has a lovely little tiny playground, huge sandbox, and trampoline out back WITH an attendant who enjoys playing with children. By then, the stress of Kampala traffic, the waiting, the heat, the dust, the crowds, the open stares, the open glares, have all caught up to me and my body aches with fatigue, dehydration, and exhaustion. A soda, water, and milkshake (not available in Gulu) later, my outlook on life improves.
We enjoy playing with the kids out back as our kids experience a sand box for the first time. "This is sand, not dirt..."
Get settled back into Adonai House, rig the mosquito nets up, put the kids to bed in their clothes for the next day, shower the ones that there is enough water to shower, tuck the nets in 10 times per bed as children wiggle their way to sleep, fall into bed exhausted... up by 5am to get on the road to Gulu... this gets us OUT of Kampala before traffic, cutting 2-3 hours off the trip. But driving in the dark is a challenge. By dawn, we're out of the city, cruising on the beautiful portion of the road.
Before 8am, we reach a road-side market - through the open passenger window I negotiate and buy produce for the entire week - tomatoes, cabbage, onions, green peppers, a pumpkin, two papayas, 4 bunches of bananas, carrots, "Irish" potatoes, a pile of avocados... I turn down passion fruit (I'm not crazy about the seeds) and pineapple (they're not comfortable to travel with and we were tired of buying produce by then). Once the kids are comfortably seated on pumpkins and potatoes (and the bananas and avocados are safely stashed), we're off again!
We see monkeys and amazing birds along the road as the scenery turns more and more brown along our northward journey. By Karuma falls, the kids are grouchy but eager to see the baboons who are mostly hiding in the trees from the heat of midday. The road deteriorates quickly, making the last hour and a half stressful on the body (and car!).
We're home! I'm hard at work bleaching all the veggies and unpacking the goodies that I found in Kampala at the grocery store. I'm hoping that the power comes on and I'm grateful that I remembered to put a towel in front of our leaky dorm-sized fridge to catch the water run-off when the power goes off. I plug in our solar panels and open the windows... we're home!
We had to go to Kampala to renew Ana's passport - yes, my cutie is 5 years old! 5 years ago we took her to Kenya so her passport still had a baby photo in it. So a 7 hour drive to renew her passport... Unfortunately, Micah's birth certificate (a twenty step process) is still in progress so we weren't going to be able to do his registration of birth abroad and passport application, which would mean that both parents and Micah would have to go again to the embassy. 'sigh'
We left Gulu before dawn and carefully picked our way over the road in the dawn light. The road close to Gulu is really in terrible condition - down to one corroded lane that is almost more potholes than road. Pedestrians, motorcycles, bikes, animals... cars, buses, trucks from the other direction do not yield which means that periodically the driver has to throw the car off the side of the pavement and drive half on half off the road and hope that the drop-off isn't too steep.
There's a new "diner" toward the half-way point on the trip. We decided to finally stop at it this time - Josh and 3 kids got expensive sodas while I took care of Gracie and baby in the van. This restaurant has "mzungu toilets!" (not latrines)
We got to Kampala, met up with our country director to give him some toys for a gospel outreach that they were doing in a poor neighborhood that very hour, gave him a medical "exam" and advice in a mall food court, ate Chinese food, got passport photos done, shopped in the super market, and moved on to our lodging - a lovely guesthouse that treats us to very nicely (a little plug for Adonai House!). For dinner, I did what is now becoming our Kampala tradition for a few meals of our stay: cold cuts and cheese and bread and Blue Band (margarine)! We can't really get cold cuts (even low quality ones) and especially good cheese (even low quality good cheese) so we've come to really enjoy our Kampala sandwiches!
On Sunday, we headed to church with our directors - we enjoy having a "church home" when we're visiting Kampala - getting to know people a bit. Then to lunch - we opted for another mall with a food court and adjacent "indoor playground" (think Chikfila or Mcdonald's play areas). Our kids LOVE this indoor playground and were THRILLED while we were happy to let the kids play so we could have adult conversation with our directors, the Watters, and our friend, Anna. We ordered Indian food for us and Gracie and fried chicken and chips (fries) for the kids. The kids LOVE meat of any sort and we always try to eat lots of meat when we're in Kampala to make up for a lack of meat in our diet the rest of the time.
To bed early to start our Monday early. We rose at 5am to get us ready to leave by 7am - our directors came to the guesthouse to keep Moses, Gracie, and Noah for us and we were off to the USA embassy, minus all cellphones, electronics, etc for easy entry. First appointment of the day and it went smoothly AND the lady accepted Micah's paperwork even though we still have one document to gather. PRAISE GOD! That part of the day went very American... then back out of the embassy, back onto Ugandan soil...
We got a treat for Ana at French cafe (and coffee for us) and then gathered the other kids and headed to the Indian embassy. But by this time, there was an incredibly long line so the kids and I waited in the car for 3-4 hours for Josh to emerge. I fed the kids snacks, water, and the infamous coldcuts and cheese while we waited. His application was accepted but he still needs to produce one more document.
Then, to the doctor's office... and that's a process. Wait... explain why we're there... wait... explain why we're there... wait... see the nurse, explain why we're there... wait... figure out what vaccines we all need... go pay... return with the receipts... wait... tell Moses that it'll hurt but not much more than an ant biting... "what's an ant, Mama?"... okay, that analogy didn't work, I'm not prepared to explain what an ant is right now... FINALLY get the shots (the nurse was fantastic, btw!)... get Josh to bring Gracie up the hill so the two of them can get shots...
Now it's 3:30pm... much too late to return to Gulu so we found a room at Adonai House again. We stopped at our (now) favorite pizza place (Caffe Roma) that has a lovely little tiny playground, huge sandbox, and trampoline out back WITH an attendant who enjoys playing with children. By then, the stress of Kampala traffic, the waiting, the heat, the dust, the crowds, the open stares, the open glares, have all caught up to me and my body aches with fatigue, dehydration, and exhaustion. A soda, water, and milkshake (not available in Gulu) later, my outlook on life improves.
We enjoy playing with the kids out back as our kids experience a sand box for the first time. "This is sand, not dirt..."
Get settled back into Adonai House, rig the mosquito nets up, put the kids to bed in their clothes for the next day, shower the ones that there is enough water to shower, tuck the nets in 10 times per bed as children wiggle their way to sleep, fall into bed exhausted... up by 5am to get on the road to Gulu... this gets us OUT of Kampala before traffic, cutting 2-3 hours off the trip. But driving in the dark is a challenge. By dawn, we're out of the city, cruising on the beautiful portion of the road.
Before 8am, we reach a road-side market - through the open passenger window I negotiate and buy produce for the entire week - tomatoes, cabbage, onions, green peppers, a pumpkin, two papayas, 4 bunches of bananas, carrots, "Irish" potatoes, a pile of avocados... I turn down passion fruit (I'm not crazy about the seeds) and pineapple (they're not comfortable to travel with and we were tired of buying produce by then). Once the kids are comfortably seated on pumpkins and potatoes (and the bananas and avocados are safely stashed), we're off again!
We see monkeys and amazing birds along the road as the scenery turns more and more brown along our northward journey. By Karuma falls, the kids are grouchy but eager to see the baboons who are mostly hiding in the trees from the heat of midday. The road deteriorates quickly, making the last hour and a half stressful on the body (and car!).
We're home! I'm hard at work bleaching all the veggies and unpacking the goodies that I found in Kampala at the grocery store. I'm hoping that the power comes on and I'm grateful that I remembered to put a towel in front of our leaky dorm-sized fridge to catch the water run-off when the power goes off. I plug in our solar panels and open the windows... we're home!
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